News und Presse

Researchers in Germany have developed a self-healing, nanoscale coating for preventing corrosion in steel and aluminum parts for aerospace, automotive, maritime and energy applications. The environmentally friendly coating is seen as an alternative to hexavalent chromium and other coatings that, while effective, are also toxic.

The multilayer coating was created by Daria Andreeva, Ph.D., and a team of researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Potsdam, Germany). Their process involves pretreating the surface by sonication and then depositing a series of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes and inhibitors layer by layer. All totaled, the coating is just 5 to 10 nanometers thick.

Photoinduced bactericidal activity of nanostructured titania based films and the effect of deposition of silver and bimetallic nanoparticles on the pathophysiological properties of titania films were investigated by the E.V. Skorb and co-authors. The antimicrobic activity of the films was assessed against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. It was shown that the silver-modified titania film demonstrates the highest photobiocide efficiency, enhancing the bactericidal activity of UV light ca. 71-fold, that results from radical improvement of microorganism adsorption and suppression of recombination of photoproduced charge carriers. Moreover authors by comparative analysis of morphologies of the cell envelops of gram-negative and gram-positive microorganisms and the resistance of their outer membranes make analysis to their sensitivity due to different reactive oxygen species generated by photocatalytic reactions.

Researchers in Germany now have developed a novel method of multilayer anticorrosion protection including the surface pre-treatment by sonication and deposition of polyelectrolytes and inhibitors. This method results in the formation of a smart polymer nanonetwork for environmentally friendly organic inhibitors. The full article can be read at Nanowerk. «Our novel coating exhibits very high resistance to corrosion attack, long term stability in aggressive media and an environmentally friendly, easy and economical preparation procedure», exlpaines Dr. Daria Andreeva in a Nanowerk interview. «We have demonstrated the general procedure for a surface important for the aircraft industry but it is similarly applicable for many types of surfaces, thus enabling many applications in advanced technologies», continues the Russian researcher.” The new method developed by a team working at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfacesin Potsdam, Germany, may avoid the use of hexavalent chromium, a natural metal known to be toxic and is recognized as a human carcinogen via inhalation. Together with her colleagues Dmitri Fix, Dr Dmitry Shchukin and Dr Helmuth Möhwald, Andreeva published a paper on the design of the group’s novel anticorrosion system in Advanced Materials “Self-Healing Anticorrosion Coatings Based on pH-Sensitive Polyelectrolyte/Inhibitor Sandwichlike Nanostructures”. The image, showing a 21 day corrosion test was taken by Dr. Andreeva.

Remember the movie blockbuster Erin Brockovich? The film is based on a real world legal case that revolves around hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium (VI), used by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to control corrosion in cooling towers in its Hinkley, CA compressor station. Chromium (VI), a natural metal, is known to be toxic and is recognized as a human carcinogen via inhalation.

Researchers in Germany now have developed a novel method of multilayer anticorrosion protection including the surface pre-treatment by sonication and deposition of polyelectrolytes and inhibitors. This method results in the formation of a smart polymer nanonetwork for environmentally friendly organic inhibitors.

"Our novel coating exhibits very high resistance to corrosion attack, long term stability in aggressive media and an environmentally friendly, easy and economical preparation procedure," Dr. Daria Andreeva tells Nanowerk. "We have demonstrated the general procedure for a surface important for the aircraft industry but it is similarly applicable for many types of surfaces, thus enabling many applications in advanced technologies."